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The Month in Pictures: August 2013

The mother of Jihad Aslan kisses the body of her son during his funeral at Qalandiya refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 26 August. Israeli forces invaded the camp early that morning in an arrest operation; clashes erupted in the camp and Israeli forces shot dead three young civilian men under circumstances that have been condemned by human rights groups.

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During the month of August, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, at least four of them civilians, during search and arrest operations in the occupied West Bank and shot dead a Palestinian in Gaza attempting to enter Israel.

Protesters called on the Palestinian Authority to halt resumed negotiations with Israel after three young men were shot dead during an arrest raid in Qalandiya refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah on 26 August. Israel has conducted an average of 76 search and arrest operations per week in the West Bank so far this year, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Egypt escalated a campaign to destroy the smuggling tunnels along the border with Gaza as well as houses used as entrances to the tunnels. According to UN OCHA, such measures have greatly reduced “the amounts of goods, including fuel and construction materials that enter Gaza via the tunnels. Local sources indicated that only around ten tunnels are functioning now, down from approximately 50 prior to mid-August (compared to 200-300 tunnels reportedly operating prior to June 2013), allowing entry of only 20 to 30 truckloads of goods per day, compared to up to 200 truckloads before the recent events.”

The free movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza has ground to a halt after years of Israeli-imposed and Egyptian-enforced siege. The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza remained only sporadically operational and access limited to “foreign nationals, people holding visas and patients officially referred for medical treatment abroad,” according to UN OCHA.

UN OCHA adds: “The current status of the crossing affects access for thousands of students and patients, as estimated by the Border and Crossing Authority in Gaza; over 5,000 registered people are prioritized and waiting to cross. The crossing remains the primary exit and entry point to the Gaza Strip for Palestinians, due to the long-standing, severe restrictions imposed by Israel on movement via the Erez Crossing.”

Meanwhile, the violence in Syriacontinues to encroach on Palestinian refugee camps in the country; the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, estimates that more than half of the Palestinian refugee population has been displaced within Syria or has fled to neighboring countries. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that up to 1,000 have fled to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

A Palestinian man stands in front of a closed shop in Jerusalem’s Old City during a strike to protest Israeli forces’ killing of three Palestinians at Qalandiya refugee camp earlier that week, 28 August.

Saeed QaqAPA images

The family of Hussein Awadullah mourn in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 11 August, after Israeli troops shot the man dead on the Gaza-Israel boundary the previous night.

Ashraf AmraAPA images

Palestinians mourn over the body of Majd Lahlouh during his funeral in Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, 20 August. Israeli troops shot dead the Palestinian youth and wounded two others before dawn that day during an operation to arrest a Palestinian fighter, the army said.

Nedal EshtayahAPA images

Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli detention are greeted at the headquarters of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 14 August. Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners, partially fulfilling a 14-year-old agreement with the Palestinian leadership, in the context of renewed negotiations.

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A crowd greets freed Palestinian prisoners upon their arrival to Gaza near the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, early 14 August.

Ali JadallahAPA images

Israeli police fire tear gas towards demonstrators during a protest against the Prawer Plan on Road 65 near Arara in the north of present-day Israel, 1 August. If implemented, the plan will displace tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens from their homes in the Naqab (Negev) desert. Protests were held throughout historic Palestine in a “day of rage” against the plan.

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Activists march down Salah al-Din Street from Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem during a demonstration against the Prawer Plan, 1 August. Participants were eventually dispersed with sound grenades by mounted Israeli riot police.

Kelly Lynn

Four residents from the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Naqab (Negev) desert sit in a Beer Sheva court before their hearing on 27 August. The men were arrested following a demolition of the village as they were trying to rebuild a tent demolished by the Israeli authorities. The village has been bulldozed dozens of times in recent years.

Oren ZivActiveStills

A Palestinian boy plays on the rubble of his family’s tent at al-Baqa camp near the West Bank city of Jericho after it was dismantled by Israeli bulldozers under the pretext that it was built without a permit, 20 August.

Issam RimawiAPA images

Palestinian girls stand in the cave where their family is staying after Israeli forces destroyed their home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, 29 August.

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A Palestinian worker rests in a smuggling tunnel dug beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, 27 August. Egyptian authorities have escalated a campaign to destroy the tunnels since the ouster of President Muhammad Morsi in July.

Eyad Al BabaAPA images

Palestinians wait to enter Egypt at the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza Strip, 25 August. Egypt reopened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip the previous day after four days of closure, allowing a limited number of stranded passengers, including students and patients seeking medical treatment, to cross in and out of Gaza.

Ashraf AmraAPA images

An elderly man wears a gas mask in the mosque of the West Bank village Kufr Qaddum after Israeli forces shoot tear gas during the Friday prayer on 22 August. Regular demonstrations have been organized in the village since July 2011 in protest of the army’s blocking of the main road east of the village which links it to city of Nablus.

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Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah protest against the Palestinian Authority’s negotiations with Israel and coordination with its military and police forces on 28 August, days after Israeli forces shot dead three young men in nearby Qalandiya refugee camp.

Ahmad Al-BazzActiveStills

A Palestinian man holds a sign reading “I am from Safad. I will return in spite of Abbas,” referring to the leader’s controversial statement made on Israeli TV renouncing his right to return to the Palestinian city depopulated in 1948. Palestinian protestors attempted to march to Abbas’ headquarters in Gaza City on 29 August as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in the West Bank city of Jericho.

Ashraf AmraAPA images

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrives to the Palestinian Authority presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 15 August, to offer support to the renewed negotiations between the PA and Israel.

Issam RimawiAPA images

Acting Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (right) signs an agreement with US Consul General Michael Ratney to pledge $148 million to the PA, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 18 August.

Issam RimawiAPA images

Palestinian singer and Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf waves to the crowd as he arrives to sing during a training session of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona in the West Bank city of Hebron, 3 August. As part of what it called a “Peace Tour,” the football club met with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Israel’s football federation; the club has been previously met with boycott calls after giving a VIP invitation to an Israeli soldier held formerly captive in the Gaza Strip.

Mamoun WazwazAPA images

Palestinians in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, rally in support of deposed Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi and in protest of the army’s killing of hundreds of protesters in the streets of Cairo, 17 August.

Ashraf AmraAPA images

Palestinian demonstrators hold Syrian opposition flags and hold candles during a protest against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in front of the UN headquarters in Gaza City, 23 August, following an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Ali JadallahAPA images

Palestinian protesters in the West Bank city of Ramallah hold Syrian flags and posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the late pan-Arabist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser during a demonstration against foreign intervention in Syria, 31 August.

Issam RimawiAPA images

Palestinian women in the West Bank city of Ramallah prepare traditional cookies known as mamoul during preparations for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr holiday which is celebrated at the end of month of Ramadan, 6 August.

Issam RimawiAPA images

A boy has his hair cut on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr holiday in Gaza City, 7 August.

Mohammed AsadAPA images

Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron, 8 August.

Mamoun WazwazAPA images

Palestinian children play with plastic guns in a Gaza City street on the fourth day of Eid al-Fitr, 11 August.

Nedal EshtayahAPA images

Work by Gaza photographers is featured in an exhibition organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day, Gaza City, 29 August.

Mohammed TalateneAPA images

Fadi al-Shami, 21, hugs his mother during his graduation ceremony in Gaza City, 17 August. Al-Shami lost his sight after he was injured in an Israeli airstrike next to his family’s home at al-Musaddar village in the central Gaza Strip in 2006.

Mahmoud HamdaAPA images

An entertainer with the Egyptian al-Nobi circus performs during a show in Gaza City, 10 August.